Diacronie. Studi di Storia Contemporanea (Jun 2014)
Entre Oriente y Occidente: arquitectura e identidad españolas en la Exposición del Centenario de los Estados Unidos de América
Abstract
During the nineteenth century, Universal Exhibitions played a significant role in the configuration of Spanish identity. The loss of her old political leadership and the plurality of her cultural traditions, so different from the European industrialized ones, placed Spain at the crossroads, where borders between the Orient and the West, tradition and modernity, exoticism and civilization, evanesced. In occasion of the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, two main architectural structures represented Spain: the renaissance façade inside the Main Building, referring to the almighty Spanish Monarchy of the past as well as the Discovery of America; and the Spanish pavilion, which alluded to the Moorish traditions of modern Spain.
